CT City have ‘no intention of releasing’ players, says Comitis

The coronavirus pandemic has seen football clubs take extraordinary measures with hopes of staying afloat financially.

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Certain clubs across the globe, specifically in Europe’s top leagues, has seen players and staff take pay cuts in order to remain financially stable.

Cape Town City owner John Comitis is facing a similar scenario with his Mother City-based Absa Premiership outfit.

The Premier Soccer League (PSL) and various other sporting codes have been on pause since late March following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s nationwide lockdown.

And with no football being played, revenues remain stagnant for clubs across the country.

Comitis has promised his staff and players will receive their full salaries at the end of April with the following month’s payment remaining in jeopardy.

Meanwhile, shifting to next season, Comitis has confidently stated that he has no intention of selling or releasing players – unless he is financially forced to.

“There is a lot of speculation about players. I think at this point (due to the lockdown) we’re obviously consolidating our position – we are not doing too much because we want to also make sure that we can sustain the structures that we have,” he told Sport24 exclusively.

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“Depending on how things unfold in the next two months, we will make certain decisions. We have no intention of releasing Dove, Kermit (Erasmus) even Patosi. But I know Patosi has been playing overseas – the benefit to him is extremely high and we wouldn’t stand in his way as long as it works for the club as well.

“My intention is still to keep a very strong squad and to have a team that can compete. We’ve wobbled tremendously this year, not because we did not have the quality, but things did just not work out the way we planned,” he added.

“Also, a lot of injuries – five operations on key players. So, bouncing back to next season, we’re very focused being back in that hunting pack.”